In my office I display an assortment of snow globes from various parts of the world and there is a story behind the collection. In college, I became the godparent for a classmate who joined the Catholic Church. Later, she became a family friend. When she traveled, she would send us postcards. When I traveled to new locations, I would get her a snow globe in turn. But four years ago, she died as a result of an unsuccessful heart surgery. In her will, she left me the snow globes, so now the gifts I had found during my travels are back in my possession.
Nor is this the only time that things I had given to others came back to me because of their passing. Gifts for my Dad, Mom, and my Aunt Gizi (a holy water bottle from Lourdes, a decorative Virgin Mary plate from Medjugorje, and an icon of a Hungarian saint) had all come back to me after their deaths. All of these objects remind me of the stark reality highlighted by the title of an American play - You Can't Take It With You.
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